Saturday, June 12, 2010

100 plein air paintings in 100 days - #41/#42

#41 - "Hidden Treasure"
Original Oil 6x8"

10/06/01 (12:30pm)
This waterfall was raging! Full spring run-off. To walk up and view a waterfall like this for a few moments is spectacular. To stand in the continual mist of its spray and listen to its thunder for and hour or two while painting it was one of the most powerful plein air experiences I have ever had. It was cloudy for a part of the time, so every time the sun poked it's little head out and lit up the water, it was a race to get the good stuff down before it was gone. Here's a photo of the falls:

10/06/01 (6:30pm)
Two big learnings on this one. The first I walked right into. As I was drawing out I heard John Carlson's voice in my head saying, "Always start your foreground at least 50 feet in front of you or you will get caught up in unnecessary detail". Yup, pretty much exactly what happened, lost a lot of valuable time there as the light was slipping away. Note to self: Don't do that again. Second one, I thought I would be bold and start with a Dioxazine Purple ground. Note to self: NEVER do that again. It stained the canvas SO dark, couldn't wipe it down to a light value, which wreaked havoc with all of my colour and value judgements - made me completely mental. Super bad plan.

These two pieces were painted on my way back from Vancouver at a stop-over with my good friend Gaye Adams in Sorrento. Loved this photo of her, coffee in hand, scouting locations:

Note: Sorry this post is a day late. I'm teaching a 3 day workshop this weekend and just ran out of day yesterday. I'll make up the lost one before the project ends.

12 comments:

Oh Liz - #41 is solid! I love seeing what the actual scene was, and the decisions you made. It is really fresh and powerful. I can hear the water and the bit of mist is done so well. The rocks are painted so beautifully...everything is terrific.

Thanks Kim! For me the most important decision was that the waterfall needed to be bigger than the outflow - how it would have appeared could I have gotten closer to it. (Ran out of shoreline). This is definitely my favourite of the project so far.

Hi Liz,Your posts are so entertaining and enlightening! It's so refreshing that you are so willing to share your successes as well as your frustrations! Gorgeous little gems, as usual ;)PS..I bet Lily loved the waterfall!

Hi Liz, Love them both, they have such great light. I think these are my favorites so far. You are obviously learning and growing so much as you go along. Great job! and thanks for sharing all of your insights.

It's been a delight, and I learned a lot inaccompany this his extraordinary pictorial adventure.Deserves much success.Congratulations, your fan from Portugal.If you do not get me wrong not only to send you greetings, as a kiss.

I love it when you show us a photo as well as the finished work. That waterfall is masterful. Juniper Ridge is also great. It takes a bold brush to make the lake as light as it needs to be. You did it.

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Welcome!

Throughout my career, I have discovered what invigorates, captivates and entertains me is challenge. My first love is landscape, but in the past few years I have added still life and figurative work to my subject matter, and painting directly from life has become my predominate approach of choice.
The intention of this blog is to share insights into one artist's journey. I hope you will find it both intriguing and inspiring.